Perils of the Amateur-mea culpa

WHen I wrote my blog about the Chevron-Ecuador lawsuit, the “conceit” of the piece which the story was wrapped around, was my criticism of the media for not having adressed the issue fully enough. It was a minor point compared to the body of the article, but fair is fair, and I received a letter of come-uppance from David Baker, the Chronicle’s energy reporter, correctly taking me to task and pointing out:

The chronicle has 17 staff-written stories in the last 10 years —Not a huge number given the enormity of the issue, but certainly not silence either.

Twelve of these occured in the last two years.

One of their reporters did an on-the-scene feature about the original lawsuit back in ’95

David then goes on to cite articles in the New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, the Economist and Vanity Fair among others and to correct several errors in my piece: Texaco started drilling in Ecuador in 64 not 72 and his interview was with an Executive Vice-President of Chevron not the President..

I believe that when you’re wrong, own it and apologize and so I do and put it on the equivalent of my front page. I still feel that the issue does not get enough coverage, and that most people are far more conversant with American Idol and Sports Stories, but I have no excuse for my own carelessness and inaccuracy. I vow to become more diligent. Thank you for the heads-up David.